Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Government is committed to taking measures to combat and prevent fraud and cybercrime. As we know, this is a crime that is on the increase. The more technology we use, the more likely we are to be susceptible to it. The close co-operation across government on this issue, and between An Garda Síochána and the National Cyber Security Centre, is key in this regard.

We are committed to ensuring the Garda has the resources it needs to fight crime. This is why €2.35 billion was allocated to the Garda last year, a 25% increase since 2020. This will allow the strengthening of the work of specialist units within An Garda Síochána, such as the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau and the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau.

Online fraud, as we know, can be devastating in terms of the impact it has, but it can also cause great mental stress for those affected. Garda authorities have advised that around €237 million has been reported stolen in cyber-enabled frauds in the period 2020 to 2023. The global cost of cybercrime is estimated to be $6 trillion per annum. I urge anyone conducting sensitive or personal business online or over the phone to be very cautious when providing personal or banking information. This has been the biggest challenge in recent years.

If it has not happened to us, we all know people who have been victims of online fraud. I called to someone very close to me several years ago who had just spoken to someone on the phone who they thought was calling from Bank of Ireland, but they were not. This person had provided information. We very quickly found out that the callers were trying to take money from this person's account. This was somebody who perhaps would not have used technology and would have been very trusting. This is what people are preying on. Many of the financial institutions do have excellent advice for customers on how to be safe online, but we need to continue to raise awareness.

This is why we have European cyber security month. This event saw a joint initiative between the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau and the National Cyber Security Centre, which included a media launch last September at Iveagh House and a strong series of public and corporate events on the joint themes of phishing and ransomware attacks in particular. Every year when we have this awareness raising, the focus is placed on different areas of cybercrime. The communications saw a series of radio adverts, weekly social media postings on the platforms of both agencies, and media advertisements on the risks posed by cyberattacks and the prevention needs to stay safe online, with a particular emphasis on #ThinkB4UClick.

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As part of our budget last year for 2024, there was an unprecedented allocation of €155 million specifically for digital capital investment and IT. This was coupled with the sustained increased investment in Garda numbers. The more members we have in the technical bureaus and the more investment we have in ICT, the more we can increase our capacity and capabilities to prevent, address and respond to these types of crimes.

There is also engagement with our European and international partners. For the past several years, significant progress has been made in working with Europol and Interpol and right across Europe to ensure we have a more joined-up system, because online fraud obviously knows no boundaries. Many of these activities are being undertaken by negative actors abroad and impacting people here. There have been major levels of co-operation. Equally, wherever we have an option to opt in to any changes in this regard or advances in technology to enable us to be part of a European-wide system, we are doing so. We are doing this as quickly as we can. Additionally, we are also following through with legislation in this regard, some of which I brought forward to the Cabinet only about three weeks ago.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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We all get that online and phone fraud and scams are activities that are everywhere and unavoidable. Cybercrime, as we have seen, is at its height. I was aware at one stage that ComReg was involved in a working group concerning phone scams and this type of field. How stands this initiative? I also remember Dr. Richard Browne of the NCSC dealt with the issue of directed spyware. We are talking about the likes of Pegasus and Predator. A company operating out of Ireland has ownership of one of these products. They are used by many nefarious regimes around the world. I think Dr. Browne said we needed some sort of legislative tools to be able to deal with this type of activity. There were issues concerning GDPR, etc. Will the Minister update us on where we are with this work?

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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To respond to the initial question from Deputy Burke, as a workforce we are highly skilled and our members are extremely sought after because of the training they have and their ability to do this type of work. We are working very closely with Interpol and Europol. For example, one of these programmes is Operation Skein, as we call it here. This tackles criminal organisations and has led to hundreds of arrests in Ireland as well as the establishment by Interpol of an international investigation called Operation Jackal. This is targeted at an organisation and criminal gang that started in west Africa in the mid-1970s and which is now operating worldwide. It is targeting individual member states and individuals, and this has been going on for some time. The work Ireland is doing on this operation, and many others, greatly supports the work others are doing. In that context, people are looking to us as well for the capacity and capabilities we have.

I do not have exact responses for a ComReg programme. The NCSC works out of the Department of the Taoiseach. It works with many different organisations, including An Garda Síochána. I can certainly try, however, to get a specific update for the Deputy in this regard. As I said, we are constantly bringing forward legislation in this context. Only last week, or perhaps two weeks ago, I brought forward legislation to allow the Garda to seek preservation and production orders to allow the force to freeze information online to use as evidence in court cases. When it comes to these types of crimes, that is extremely helpful.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Go raibh maith agat.